134 KNOWING BIRDS .THROUGH) STORIES 



of fright and dropped her fish, which was precisely what 

 the eagle intended. She flew away rapidly, but the eagle, 

 making a quick swoop, caught the fish long before it 

 reached the ground and bore it in triumph to the moun- 

 tains some two miles away. As soon as the eagle was out 

 of sight, the hawk returned to her fishing. She had fished 

 only a few moments when she caught another fish, which 

 she bore safely home to her fledglings. 



This eagle evidently had its own fledglings on some crag 

 of the mountain near by. I tried several times to locate 

 the nest but did not succeed. It came to be a daily oc- 

 currence to hear a scream and see the eagle coming from 

 the top of the nearest high peak toward the hawk which 

 it had discovered flying home with a fish. As the days 

 went by, it was interesting to watch these two great birds 

 match wits. If the hawk fished further up the river, she 

 was fairly well concealed by some large trees and usually 

 could manage to get away with her fish unobserved. On 

 the other hand the water was deeper here, and she found 

 it hard to locate her prey. Furthermore, her favorite fish, 

 the sucker, preferred shallow water. So she usually chose 

 to fish in the shallows in full view of the watchful eagle 

 on the mountain above. When she made her catch, how- 

 ever, she was not long in learning to fly up the river as 

 close to the surface as she could, for in that way she could 

 often escape the notice of the eagle. On the other hand 

 if the eagle failed for some time to see her catch a fish it 

 would take to the air and sail back and forth high above 

 the fishing grounds watching for the hawk. 



After the one experience I never saw the hawk wait for 

 the eagle to strike her before dropping her fish. On the 

 other hand I never saw the eagle force her to drop her fish 



